Be swept away by the music of Russia when Elena Nikulshina-Fray (soprano) and Olga Zastrelkina-Szelc (piano) perform “Russian Romances from Glinka to Rachmaninoff.” Nikulshina-Fray, a native of St. Petersburg, and Zastrelkina-Szelc, who hails from Yekaterinburg, will perform a... More >>

A fast-rising star on the jazz scene, the Netherlands-born/California-raised pianist Gerald Clayton cites his father, bassist/bandleader John Clayton, and piano great Oscar Peterson as musical influences. The three-time Grammy nominee was voted as Rising Star — Pianist in the 2010 Down... More >>

Curators/hosts Shafer Hall and Kristin Kostick wanted the Mongoose vs. Cobra Reading Series to offer bar patrons a chance to hear some of the ever-expanding poetry scene in Houston, all while being near plenty of cold beer. Poets on the podium this month include Shane Lake, a Massachusetts... More >>

Patrick Tourville’s documentary film OK, Buckaroos: The Life, Music and Good Times of Jerry Jeff Walker chronicles the career of the musical maverick. In the late 1960s, Walker scored a huge hit with “Mr. Bojangles” (it’s been covered by dozens of singers from Harry... More >>

What to do when being an atheist, believer or agnostic doesn’t quite cover your belief system? Enter the movement of Possibilianism , a temperament based in science that allows one to hold — gasp — multiple views of life and afterlife. David Eagleman lays it all out with the... More >>

The Prince of Denmark is transported to a Steampunk sideshow in the Trebuchet Players’ production of Hamlet. Directed by Kathy Drum, Hamlet is reset to the Gilded Age with vaudevillian actors taking on the roles of the prince and the many conspirators who surround him as punishment for... More >>

This was going to be the first year in a while that the Alley Theatre did not present its one-man show The Santaland Diaries starring company member Todd Waite. That was right up until ticket buyers started calling in, complaining that they couldn’t find the David Sedaris play about a... More >>

She is not just a little girl with golden curls, she’s Secret Agent Goldiana Locksinova (a.k.a. Goldilocks), and she’s on a mission of utmost importance. In Panto Goldilocks, the super-special secret agent is sent to steal a potent beauty serum. Set in the 1960s and inspired by the... More >>

It always seemed a little odd to Abby Koenig that her family celebrated Christmas, when her Jewish heritage indicated Hanukkah would be more appropriate. “I grew up in a fairly Jewish neighborhood and none of my Jewish friends celebrated it like we did. I always thought that made us... More >>

Frosty the Snowman and other familiar Christmas tales have a worthy competitor this year as the Ensemble Theatre brings a new holiday story to the stage: Djembe and the Forest of Christmas Forgotten. Set in the imaginary world of Abahu and brought to life by puppetry and other special effects,... More >>

Galveston Island’s annual Dickens on the Strand has been a Gulf Coast holiday tradition for 40 years; that makes the island’s venerable holiday street festival older than many of the characters featured in the Charles Dickens novels it emulates. “It’s a completely... More >>

Given the impact and influence television commercials have on both popular culture and product sales, it’s no wonder that directors and writers put as much thought and care into those 60-second messages as they do feature films. The British in particular produce some wildly creative spots... More >>

The warmth and laughter and holly jolly times of the holidays are accompanied by big-time stress. For many revelers, there’s too much food, too much drink, and way too much emotion and expectation for naughty and nice alike. In a realistic turn, The Music Box Theater’s The White... More >>

The holy terrors known as the Herdman children put their own spin on the holidays in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, produced by Main Street Theater. The kids — who can’t be put in jail for their various offenses because, ah, they burned the jail down — mistakenly end up at... More >>

Immerse yourself in writer David Rakoff’s controversial wit and watch his stories unfold in dance, words, music and film when FrenetiCore remembers Rakoff in there is no answer as to why me: A Dance Tribute to David Rakoff. “I wanted to present a show in December that offers... More >>

A wooden nutcracker comes to life and takes a little girl named Clara (and the rest of us) on a magical adventure in Ben Stevenson’s production of The Nutcracker, performed here by the Houston Ballet. Dozens of fantasy characters, from King Rat and Snow Queen to the Sugar Plum Fairy and... More >>

It might be difficult to maintain the shhhhhh factor when Houston Arts Alliance exhibits “Speak, An Exhibition of Lee Littlefield’s Sculptures” at Houston Public Library. “The idea is to let the art open and humanize the space,” says Matthew Lennon, HAA’s... More >>

Elf the Musical, which has just hit the regional theater market after making a ton of money in New York, tells the story of Buddy, a human child who accidentally ends up at the North Pole after crawling into Santa’s bag one Christmas. His discovery that he’s not just a really big... More >>

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Paula Vogel penned a fantastic American nativity fable when she crafted A Civil War Christmas. The show takes place shortly after Abraham Lincoln’s second election. It’s the coldest winter anyone in Washington, D.C., can remember. A young slave girl... More >>

During the winter holidays, the Houston Zoo reopens its gates nightly for Zoo Lights, a park-wide light display. Presented by TXU Energy, Zoo Lights lets visitors wander the paths that have been newly adorned with millions of individual lights. “Zoo Lights was designed for our guests to... More >>

Once a year, the Art Car Museum holds an open-call exhibit. This year’s event, “The Gun Show,” centers on firearms. Selecting a rather polarizing topic isn’t really a surprise, since the museum regularly pushes the envelope with its shows. A combination of emerging and... More >>

A weekly gig is about the best way for guitarists to hone their craft, and Houston's Paul Ramirez has done just that Wednesday nights at the Continental Club for more than a year now. It pays off in Sex With a Dragon, his debut CD that throws in a little Santana and New Orleans R&B; into... More >>

The Children’s Museum of Houston is honoring the one and only Theodor Geisel, more popularly known as Dr. Seuss, with an exhibit called “Merry Grinchmas: The Art of Dr. Seuss.” The museum’s halls will be filled with Seuss’s unique artwork from dozen’s of... More >>

DJ Sun isn't hard to find. He has a residency most evenings out of the week, either solo or with the crew from his long-running Saturday-night KPFT show Soular Grooves. As affable as he is industrious, in 20 years Sun has become a soft-spoken cornerstone of the Houston music community, often... More >>

Any band cool enough to admit an obsession with that chalk-like candy Pez has our devotion. Less Than Jake's "Pezcore" focus, along with their enduring ska-punk style, makes it worth the lame five-year hiatus between albums. We're stoked that they've finally put out new music with ninth album,... More >>